One of the more frustrating aspects of the world of DVD publications is the strict unwillingness of Japanese distributors to put English subtitles onto their overprized disks. Because I am a sucker for understanding the films I watch, I mostly avoid these DVDs.
This I couldn't miss though: A claymation version of The Dunwich Horror, The Picture In The House and The Festival, directed by Ryo Shinagawa, with art by Shohei Yamashita and music by revered avantgarde and indie musician and producer Jim O'Rourke.
To my delight, the films stick close enough to Lovecraft's stories that the missing subtitles aren't much of a problem - at least not for those who know the originals. The films avoid dialogue most of the time. What explanations are needed are provided through off-screen monologue. Shinagawa trusts in the animation itself to provide most of what the viewer needs to know, though.
Talking about animation is a little misleading here as we are talking about clay-made puppets and dioramas that aren't moving much, if at all. The camera is the only element that really moves a lot.
Despite this lack of speed and movement, all three shorts are highly effective. Yamashita's design style with its crooked angles and asymmetrical faces is perfect for the mood of decay and wrongness the stories need; the lack of movement seems not so much the product of technical deficiencies as based in the dread of what effect movements could have.
The look of the brilliantly designed monsters makes this dread astonishingly real.
O'Rourke's soundtrack with its contemplative guitars and even harmonica is far away from typical horror film music, yet a keen sense of dynamic and subtle changes in tempo make it indispensable for the films' effect.
The whole venture captures a truly weird mood in a way one seldom experiences as a viewer. I even think the old gent himself would approve.
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